Willie Randolph, You're Outta Here!

On Tuesday, June 17, 2008 the New York Mets cut ties with manager Willie Randolph. Willie Randolph was relieved of his duties as manager of the Mets after three season and sixty-nine games. Randolph who was hired after the 2004 season replaced Art Howe as manager. Randolph in his first season as manager in 2005 led the Mets to an 83-79 record, finishing tied for third in the National League East with the Florida Marlins. For the first time since the 2001 season the Mets finished with a winning record and 83 wins marked a fifteen game improvement from the previous, 2004, season. Following a disappointing end to the season, being in the playoff race for a good amount of time in September the Mets went out and acquired closer Billy Wagner and first baseman Carlos Delagdo. In the upcoming season the Mets had probably the most success ever since the 1986 season where they beat the Boston Red Sox in the world series. In the 2006 season the Mets jumped out to a big first place lead in the first week of the season and finished with a national league best 97-63 record. They would go on to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in three games in the NLDS and eventually lose to world champion St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. With the Mets down two and the bases loaded with two out Beltran would strike out in the bottom of the ninth on an Adam Wainwright curveball and end their season. In the 2007 season the Mets led in first place up until the last few games in September. All of a sudden in September everything went downhill, with a seven game first place lead and seventeen games left to play the New York Mets would go on to lose twelve of their last seventeen games, losing the division to the Philadelphia Phillies on the last day of the regular season. This marked one of the biggest collapses in MLB history as Willie Randolph faced a lot of criticism from the fans. General manager Oman Minaya assured Willie would be the manager for the beginning of the 2008 season. With the acquisition of ace Johan Santana in the off-season, the Mets were the favorites to win the National League East once again. But that would all change. As the season went underway the Mets lost Pedro Martinez again and were not able to overcome the collapse of 2007. The Mets would go on to get loss after loss and Willie Randolph's job was in jeopardy once again. Omar Minaya assured Willie that his job was safe but soon that would change. The Mets went on to get swept in four games by the San Diego Padres and the upcoming weekend would take two out of three from the Texas Rangers, beat the Angels and soon after the game Willie Randolph was fired.

    Willie Randolph and the Mets parted ways in a very terrible situation. It may have seemed like the Mets were beginning to hit the ball and make their pitches. In my opinion this was not the right time to part ways with Willie Randolph. The Mets almost rallied from an 8-2 deficit against the Texas Rangers losing 8-7 in nine innings. The Mets would win game two of the doubleheader and also win game one in Anaheim. If it wasn't for Billy Wagner's three blown saves in one week, the Mets would have won more games. Willie Randolph in any way cannot be blamed for Billy Wagner unable to make his pitches. Willie Randolph was just a scapegoat, who had to take the blame for his team under performing. Willie Randolph had made bad pitching decisions and some managing decisions concerning veterans vs. young guns, this played a big part in why he needed to be fired. After every game the media in the clubhouse asked the same questions every time concerning Randolph's status. This really got to the players, put a lot of pressure on them and made them think about non-baseball stuff when they should have been concentrating on baseball. This also got to Willie as he had to keep pleading the Mets management about giving him a clear cut answer about his status. Most of the blame does fall on Willie Randolph, only because he was not able to keep the team concentrated on baseball. The players should not receive any blame other than they were not performing at their best. They are a championship team, no doubt, but they were not playing at a championship level. A lot of this blame does also fall on Omar Minaya, including the Mets front office,  because they were not able to give a clear answer about Willie's job. Since they were unavailable to give a clear answer about his job, the media eventually got in the heads of the team and they were not able to perform right. Once again Willie Randolph became the scapegoat. Jerry Manuel has a strong resume for an interim manager, as he was AL Manager of the Year in 2000 with the Chicago White Sox. He also knows a lot about this current Mets team as he has served as bench coach since 2006. Jerry Manuel is going to be able to do a good job as the manager of the Mets. Even though Jerry and Willie are the same kinds of managers, Jerry Manuel does have some fire that Willie Randolph lacked. Jerry Manuel will call his players out and he does not care what the media thinks. While manager of Chicago White Sox, Manuel called out Frank Thomas in front of his players and Thomas apologized in public and the White Sox went on to make the playoffs. Jerry Manuel will go out and argue calls when he needs to, he does not mind firing his team up by getting ejected. Willie Randolph did not show this kind of aggressive managing. Jerry Manuel is going to turn the Mets season around, he will get this team into the playoffs. The firing of Rick Peterson, is going to hurt the Mets. Peterson turned around the careers of John Maine and Oliver Perez. He has great knowledge of his pitchers and knows how to handle them well. Who knows whether Dan Warthen will able to do the job Peterson did? Peterson will sorely be missed by the Mets pitching staff. Willie Randolph had the potential to be a great manager but maybe the responsibilities of the job got to him. He will be remembered for ending the Atlanta Braves fifteen year streak of winning the NL East. Randolph will be remembered for coming one hit away from the 2006 world series. However, when mentioned in history books Randolph will be remembered more for the 2007 collapse that eventually led to his firing. Willie Randolph would most likely accept a job as a coach from the New York Yankees. Joe Girardi and Steinbrenner both love him and don't mind getting him back in the Bronx. Willie Randolph may even be able to reclaim a job as a manager for another team, he surely deserves another chance to manage baseball, especially at the major league level. Willie Randolph leaves New York with a special legacy, winning the NL East and coming one hit away from a world series.